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The Pillars of Tech Consciousness
Post Date
November 6, 2025
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In my first post, Tech Consciousness is defined as the following: Intentionally aware use of technology.
To follow up on that, I’ve come up with 5 pillars to which I think relate best to tech usage.
1. Intention Over Blind Adoption
Most people (myself included) don’t really “use” technology with a clear goal in mind. Like going onto Youtube with a specific video / creator in mind or opening Instagram to see a certain friends post. You go onto the app (once you’ve found what you want, if you even get there!) and it just pulls you under. The advent of the scrolling / shorts epidemic has made this 10x worse because you really don’t know what you’ll encounter. It’s just handed to you on a plate and you take it. This is where intention sets in. Solange has a beautiful interlude about this on her 2019 album “When I Get Home”. I’d recommend giving it a listen!
The lyrics say “Nothing without intention, do nothing without intention”. When I first listened to it, I was in the middle of crafting this personal philosophy and I instantly realised this was the first thing I needed to add.
Intention is defined as something you want and plan to do, an aim.
When you open your app or platform of choice, what is your aim? What do you want to achieve? Keeping that in mind is extremely helpful.
2. Authenticity
Be yourself . It’s probably the worse dating advice you can be told, but it’s good to hear when it relates to how you use the internet. It’s horrible that what you consume can fundamentally change who you are because it doesn’t just stick with you online, but it instead follows you into the real world. When you hear someone parrot whatever they’ve come across online and you can tell it’s not who they are but they’ve been brainwashed so deeply it’s really heartbreaking. You carry those thoughts, emotions and values that you’ve downloaded from your For You page into the life you live offline, which can have catastrophic consequences for your real life relationships. It’s hard to blame someone who has succumbed to this though, as the algorithms reward inauthenticity and aesthetics. It’s going to keep you glued to the screen. Why not throw it if you know it’s going to be caught? At the end of the day the aim is profit. Just don’t let your soul be the IOU.
3. Balance
You’ve begun to set intentions before using your technology, you are now true to yourself in terms of what you consume, now it’s time to ask, when do you engage and how much do you engage?
What works for me is NOT using my phone first thing in the morning once I wake up. I’d rather set the tone for my day rather than let whatever I find on my phone dictate that. A more extreme thing to do would be to not use my phone in my bedroom at all but that’s a step too far for me. Have to play with fire a little bit. The main point is just preventing overexposure. Sometimes when I eat, I don’t have any entertainment. I just chew. It’s extreme but I went to both sides of the spectrum to find a golden balance. It’s worked out well for me thus far. Setting time-limits is effective (until the extend for 1 hour option pops up). It all takes is trial, error and finding out what works for you.
4. Critical Thinking
The expression “you are what you eat” is very very popular and for good reason. What you eat affects your physical composition and in turn your mental output. The same concept applies to what you consume on the internet. There’s only so many times you can watch a David Goggins or various other men shouting at you for motivation before you feel guilty for not doing anything. Every time you see something related to that person / place / thing you really don’t like and engage with it, the algorithm licks its lips cause they’ve got their golden goose to keep you engaged. Experts say you’re doing THIS thing wrong! Are you really? At the advanced stages, it’s just making sure you’re very aware of what you let in once you do decide to peek over the horizon and see what’s going on. My personal weakness is ragebait. Everyone has what makes them tick. Question everything and handpicking what you want to see. You might have to become best friends with the block or not interested button for a while. It’ll pay off.
5. Creation
Once you’ve leapt over the other hurdles, now it’s your time to find your people. This is where you become the architect, blacksmith and sculptor. You go from consuming all the time to creating something and it really doesn’t have to be much. Finsta accounts are very popular. Learn to do that cool pencil finger flip trick. People find create joy in creating Excel spreadsheets! Record your own voice as a journal entry. Personally I found that it gets to a point where more input becomes procrastination. I know you have that folder where you save recipes and plan to make them but never get around to it. The consumption ends with you when you let it rot. If you do make the recipe, you extend creation to yourself or the people that eat the food. Hopefully it tastes good. Instead of consuming the ideas, become them.
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